What’s going on with women and men

The University of Alaska Theater Department presents the play “Somewhere in Between” by Aoise Stratford, which shows how society has created confusion between men and women for years. The play suggests that it’s time to stop blaming and controlling, and begin to join together to reach a higher place as a whole.

“It’s a message that I don’t think men are going to sit in the audience and roll their eyes at,” director David Edgecombe said.

“Somewhere in Between” portrays the story of women and their struggles in the past and the present, where situations may be worse.

Alison Gal, a 25-year-old theatre major, plays young Molly Malone, a 24-year-old fishmonger in Ireland in the 17th century whose parents both died. She fell in love with a man named Patrick Malone, and she fell into despair when he died.

Molly gives up on God and feels like she can no longer go on. Her depression does not allow her to overcome the struggles in life, and she eventually dies of the plague. Before her death, however, she realizes her faults and dies with a new wisdom.

In 1666, her spirit comes back to life and goes on to touch the lives of other women in similar predicaments.

Gal adores the character she plays.

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“I see a lot of myself in Molly,” she said. Gal also sees the similarities of all women throughout history.

“With the society we’re in, yes, men have more power, but we have to bond together to get around it,” she said. “We have to support one another. It’s a very sweet message of not shutting yourself off.”

Molly Killoran, who plays the older Molly Malone, said she is proud to be an adjunct of the program.

“There’s nothing to me like the thrill and exhilaration and adrenaline rush of being on a stage in front of a live audience,” she said. “Nothing equates to that. No drug comes even close.”

Her character is a ghost or spirit figure that has come back to modern Chicago to help a lost girl named Lois. Lois reminds Molly of herself when she was younger and she really wants to help.

“Even if you can help one lost soul out there it’s something to feel good about,” Killoran said. “Lois is a little thick headed and it’s hard for the character of Molly at times, but looking back on her past she has so much she can share with her.”

Erika Savage plays the young Lois. Erika is almost 20, and this is her first show as a theatre major at UAA. She also plays Lucy, a sweet British girl whose goal in life is to become a maid. When she finally finds the position she desires, she is accused of being a witch.

“We have our own special connections as females that most men may not understand

“They probably never will,” Savage said. “It’s not male bashing, it’s just that we need to separate ourselves enough to bond together.”

Davis Edgecombe is in love with this play. Two years ago, he attended the Valdez playwright contest as a judge.

“One of the new plays was by Aoisa Stratford, ‘Somewhere in Between.’ Of all the plays that were read that season, I was in love with this one,” Edgecombe said. “I think of myself as a feminist, in spite of the fact that some say that’s impossible. I hope I am some sort of new age feminist.”

This play talks about women who have been victims of society and shows how some women rose above their situation. They knew that being lost didn’t mean they had to be doomed. Molly helps Lois to elevate herself beyond a life of drugs and sex, an endless cycle that perpetuated itself. These women saw that it’s time the patterns change.